by playtent » Wed Apr 08, 2015 1:18 am
Gents,
My mom never overtakes anything at all. She prides herself that in 50 years of driving she has never had the need to overtake any moving vehicle. She never travels over 45mph, refuses to drive on the motorway and won't drive in the dark. She can see no point in rushing anywhere and when I said she has a new Roomster, I probably misled you. She does have a Roomster which she got 6 months ago. She hasn't driven it as yet because she is not use to it. My father drives her everywhere and if she needs to drive herself she uses her old car, a 2002 Vauxhall Astra 1.7d.
She does intend on driving it when she's ready and confident to have a go but as yet she's still getting used to it!
Now my father is a scary driver, he will spot the international space station in earths orbit and point it out and yet miss the parked car with its door open. Admittedly that was a couple of years ago now and it was an easy repair, just needed a new door and some hinges. My mum made a vaild point as to why would you have your door open into the road and not expect to get it smashed off.
I would happily guarantee any member of this forum that their driving would scare my mum.
I obviously do not drive like I would on AD day with my mum in the car and have never done so, as tempted as I have been in the past with her whining in my ear like a worn out wheel bearing. I don't need to give her a commentary as she likes to give me one with the benefit of her 50 years driving experience. She likes to point out that every car is a danger to me and what would I do if the driver of the car on the other side of the road was drunk and swerved into me. I explain that by driving quicker, then we might have already driven by the said drunk before he swerves onto our side of the road and hits me and then they hit someone else. That's wasted on her and I'm selfish, she would rather have the drunk hit us in my big unnecessary car than some other poor unsuspecting driver in a little car as forewarned is forearmed and as we are expecting it, it will be less of a shock. Not to mention that the little car driver may not be able to afford to repair their car, hence the reason they drive a little car. Very thoughtful!
With regards to the Police argument about driving, it's a means to an end for many many drivers. Hence in general they pass and never practice it again until their next re-test. For a small minority who pride themselves on improving their driving yet further, they will continue to develop their skills and hence on occasion if they are not already a 1 will have a refresher and improve their grade from a 2 to a 1.
To suggest that all 1's are great is the same as saying all 2's are crap and all civilian drivers have no idea about proper driving as they have never done it under pressure, utter rubbish.
I have driven with drivers who have scared me and are Police advanced. I have driven with civilian members of the prestige club who have surprised me with how good they are and others who have shocked me with how far they are away from what I had already experienced.
It's horses for courses, if you pride yourself on your driving and practice regularly because it's your hobby then you should be a better driver than someone who doesn't. If you do it because you have to at work then every taxi driver and white van man should be ace.
It's amazing how many Police drivers are 1's when you speak to them, or would have been a 1 was it not for the fact that they didn't drive mad enough. Less than 10% of the drivers in my force get a 1. So it stands to reason all these 1's out there that many people have driven with probably aren't.
I've heard the old comment that you only get a 1 if your fast and crazy and Its rubbish. You get a 1 if you have driven well throughout your 4 week course, improving and learning as you go with an enthusiasm for driving and most probably a natural ability. Then on your final test you live upto the expectation your instructor has of you. You won't fluke a 1 on the day, the same as you won't get a 1 if you have a bad final drive.
Why so many people seem to jump on the wagon about Police drivers and how good is this class or how good is that surprises me. It's true that it's a job to the majority and it's also true that unless you have done the course, then you can't really know whether you have the required ability or not. Driving at 60mph and getting everything just right on a road that you could be doing a 110mph on is a bit different. Not to say any of you couldn't do it, it's just for a different purpose.
